Living
WatersConserving the source of life

Thirsty Crops
Our food and clothes: eating up nature and wearing out the environment?

Thirsty Crops

The world is facing a watercrisis. It is estimated that over2 billion people are affectedby water shortages in over 40
countries, and the extensive
withdrawal of water for
agriculture from river, lakes
and aquifers results in limited
supplies for other human needs,
such as drinking, washing,cooking and sanitation.
According to the UN World
Water Development Report,
the average supply of water
per person will drop by a third
in the next two decades.

Our food and clothes:eating up nature andwearing out the environment?

Agriculture is by far the biggest user of water.
Because of this, the water that a person

crisis‘eats’ everyday contained in food products
is much larger than the volume of water aperson drinks. Of all freshwater withdrawn
for human use, industrial and household
uses account for 20 and 10 percent

respectively, while agriculture consumes

on average around 70 percent and much

more in some locations. Furthermore, it isexpected that by 2030 the global average
agricultural water withdrawal for irrigation
itself will be some 14 percent higher.

©WWF-Canon/Olivier LANGRAND

Rice terraces High Plateau, Madagascar

2 3

Food production and water
Based on a nutrition level of 2,700 (kilogram) calories per person daily and an 85 percent
cereal-based diet, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated the amount of waterrequired for food self-sufficiency. Assuming that 1m3 of water is required to produce 1,000
calories of plant-based food and 5m3 per 1,000 calories of animal-based food, the dailywater requirement to provide 2,700 calories is 4.3m3 per person daily, or 1,570m3 per person
annually. In dry climates this has to be provided by irrigation water, whereas in wet climatesthe entire volume can be supplied from rainfall and soil moisture.
Since the world’s population is forecast to grow by at least 2 billion in the next 50 years,
regardless of all other factors considerably more food needs to be produced world-wide by2050. International studies have calculated that the irrigated area of cropland will need toincrease by about 14 percent over the coming 25 years. Although part of the extra water
needed may come from higher irrigation efficiency or recycling, these studies assume thatthe rest will need to be developed as new water resources which may grow by as much as©WWF-Canon/Mauri RAUTKARI

1,000 km3, from the current level of about 3,300 km3 worldwide.
Changes to the assumptions made in these types of calculations e.g. regarding sources ofprotein, or improvements in rainfed agriculture, make considerable reductions in the amountof additional water required, and hence reduce what would otherwise lead to highly significant
impacts on freshwater ecosystems.

Agriculture provides many opportunities for

As a result, unsustainable agriculture harms

water-savings as much of it is currently

the environment by sucking rivers, lakes

wasted in transit to the field, throughand underground water sources dry,

inappropriate irrigation methods, and byincreasing soil salinity and thereby destroying

growing crops that are not suited to theits quality, and by washing pollutants andlocal environment. Such waste is driven bypesticides into rivers destroying downstream

misplaced subsidies and artificially low water

ecosystems as far as corals and breeding

prices (unconnected with the amount used),grounds for fish in coastal areas. Disruption

low public and political awareness, and poor

to marine ecosystems is at least as importantwater management, while not being checked

as that in rivers, with both suffering fromby incomplete environmental legislation.

changed flood and sediment regimes andblocked migration routes created by dams.
Ultimately unsustainable agriculture destroys
and of fishermen and communities
dependent on natural ecosystems.

©WWF-Canon/Sarah BLACK

the livelihoods of the farmers practicing it,

Kafue Flats, Zambia.
Water supply (from the Kafue River)to sugar cane fields

LivingWatersConserving the source of lifenutrition

More than nutrition

Beyond basic nutrition, using water wisely

With more than 1 billion people living on

to produce food is a question of survival inless than a dollar a day, buying food is amany parts of the world. Improving

daily challenge for too many. The poorest

agricultural water use is a key element forpeople on the planet spend up to 70 percent

increasing food production, especially inof their income on food. At the other end ofmany developing countries, where currently

the spectrum, food manufacturing is one ofaround 800 million people - 13 percent of

the largest and most successful industries.

the world’s 6 billion people - are suffering

The top five food companies have afrom chronic hunger. More than half the

combined turnover of more than $125 billion

world’s population live in rural areas and

USD, which is more than the combined GDP

depend largely on farming for a livelihood;of 50 of the poorest countries.

in Africa and Asia up to 70 percent of the
population depends on farming. The UN

Food and Agriculture Organisation projects
that world food production needs to be

increased by around 60 percent to feed an
additional 2 billion people by 2030. These

forecasts suggest that developing countries

may need to expand their irrigated area from
202 million ha to 242 million ha by 2030.

Clothing is also a multi-billion dollar businessthat meets a basic need but also caters toluxury and fashion fads. Cotton represents
nearly half the fibre used to make clothes
and other textiles worldwide. Much of therest comes from non-renewable synthetic
products derived from petro-chemicals.

Cotton factory Faisalabad,
Pakistan‘Persuading
governments andbusiness to change
the context within
which farmers live
and work to one
that is sustainable,
environmentally,socially andeconomically, is
one of the biggest
challenges we facein the 21st Century.’
Dr. Claude Martin,
Director-General of
WWF-International

Our use of cotton comes at huge andunnecessary cost: growing cotton
unsustainably, with massive inputs ofwater and pesticides, has already been
responsible for the destruction of large-scaleecosystems such as the Aral Sea in central
Asia and the deteriorating health andlivelihoods of people living there.

4 5

Daily, farmers make rational decisions about what to farm and how to do it. The problem
is that, often, through no fault of their own, farmers make decisions that are unsustainableeconomically, environmentally and socially.
In rich countries, subsidies and market

supplies and other inputs, andbarriers virtually force farmers to produce

access to knowledge about better farming

more food and fibre than are needed andtechnologies and practices. Under suchto use excessive amounts of farm chemicals.

circumstances only short-term survival

These subsidies make no sense whencounts. Additionally, cash subsidies inthey lead to severe ecological impacts

rich countries cause environmental

and higher prices for everyone in the shops,

degradation in poor countries as

while securing fewer and fewer jobs onfarmers strive to compete against unfair

farms. In poor countries farmers often lackcompetition. In all these cases it is therights to the land they farm, reliable water

environment that pays the difference.

Cotton facts
Just 2.4 percent of the world’s arable land isplanted with cotton yet cotton accounts for
24 percent of the world’s insecticide market
and 11 percent of the sale of global pesticides.
73 percent of global cotton harvest comes from
irrigated land.

LivingWatersConserving the source of life

‘It is clear that we needto reduce farming’s
wasteful use of water,
its overuse of chemicals
hazardous to people
and wildlife, its soil
erosion and pollution,and its slash and burnappetite for natural
habitats. Only then can
we feed and clothe
ourselves withoutworrying about
tomorrow’s harvest.’
Jamie Pittock,
Director of WWF’s
Living Waters Programme©WWF-Canon/Hartmut JUNGIUS

Market failure, government failure

The white substance in photo is thesalt caused by poorly managed
irrigation in Delicias, Chihuahua
Desert, Mexico

no water

No water, no crops

Without water, there is no life. Agriculture

withdraws the vast majority of water takenfrom rivers, lakes and underground sources.

The integrity of ecosystems, and various geological and climatic factors, largely determine

Water is delivered through irrigation systems

the total amount of water available in a river basin. Agriculture affects the quantity ofusing methods that range from the simple

water available for human uses in two main ways.

to the elaborate: a farmer drawing waterfrom a well, to the Indus Basin Irrigation
system which distributes water overmore than 14 million hectares, an area
about the size of England. Making therequired amount of water available is©WWF-Canon/Edward PARKER

Agriculture and water availability

only possible in many cases throughFirstly there are direct withdrawals of water for farming which account for about 70
percent of all human uses. Not all of this water is actually used on farms, however,since a significant portion is lost in transit, or returns to the environment as runoff
from fields, or by trickling down through the soil to replenish underground water sources.
If the returned water is polluted by pesticides, fertilizers, or sediments, then it is unfit forother uses and, thus, reduces the available water supplies in a river basin.

the damming and diversion of rivers andSecondly, agriculture is responsible for changes in land-use that affect the way that water

extensive pumping of underground aquifers,

is collected, stored and released into the environment. Changing natural grasslands oroften destroying the very ecosystems that

forests into farmland, or plantations, affect the overall availability and cycle of water inmake agriculture possible.

a river basin.

The urban population has grown from
43 percent to around 60 percent in

the last 10-15 years and global foodconsumption patterns are changing.
City dwellers with higher incomes tend
to eat more meat and, with it, increase theneed for more water for livestock, for feedcrops and in some cases, pasture. In China
for example it is estimated that in 2025
annual grain production will need to beabout 170 million tonnes higher than
today’s figure of 380 million tonnes,

Intensive agriculture aroundthe Parchim Lake Nature Reserve
Northern Germany

to be achieved by irrigating an extra
25-30 million hectares of land.

Rice, a way of life

About half the world’s population depends on rice as a basic food. More than 90 percentof the world’s rice harvest of about 450 million tonnes is grown and consumed in Asia.
A person living in the Mekong Basin in south-east Asia eats 160 kg of rice annually on
average; a typical American eats 9 kg and a European 4 kg.
It takes 3,000 – 5,000 litres of water to produce 1 kg of rice. Asian rice growers use
13 percent of global pesticides.

6 7

Although irrigated farming is the biggestof hectares of farmland are lost each year

water user in the world, this is only partdue to inadequate water management,of the food production picture. Farming

such as poor application and drainage

that relies solely on rainfall, or annual

leading to high salt levels that destroy

floods, is also vitally important in manysoil fertility. Additionally agriculture is thecountries. Rainfed farming still produces

largest source of pollution, including water

the majority of food supplies, notably inpollution, in most countries. Cotton alone

many wet, northern rich countries and inis responsible for a quarter of all insecticides

many dry southern poor ones. Rainfed

and herbicides used in farming with severe

farming still has major impacts on

health impacts on workers in the field andbiodiversity through land clearing foron ecosystems that receive excess doses

crops and runoff of pollution and soil.

no crops

While more land area is needed, millions

that run-off with rains.

In parts of some countries such as Pakistan,
China, India, USA, Australia, Uzbekistan,
Spain and Morocco, physical limits torenewable water resources have alreadybeen reached, or are close, causing concern

among politicians, farmers and water experts
alike. Already, water tables are dropping

fast, by as much as 10 metres annually inthe worst cases, leading to a less reliable
cases where deeper underground waters

are of poor quality, such as in central India,

where polluted water pumped-up from deep
aquifers, trickles through the root zones ofirrigated crops into the now dry upper

aquifers, thereby rendering them unsuitable
for replenishment.

©WWF-Canon/Edward PARKER

supply of safe water. This is made worse in

Developing water resources for irrigation,and other uses, can also threaten the

The Rio Conchos is the main sourceof irrigation water for crops grownin the Chihuahua Desert, Mexico

sustainability of other food sources.
For example, the construction of large
dams alters the natural hydrology of river
systems, disrupts the breeding cycles offish and blocks migration routes resulting
in decimated fish stocks in rivers and thesea. Freshwater fish stocks have declined

Opposite:
Center pivot irrigation of wheat crop,
Zambiaby up to 90 per cent in many of the world’s
largest rivers such as the Yangtse Riverin China, the Volga River in Russia, theNiger River in West Africa, the Plata Riverin South America, and the Murray & Darling©WWF-Canon/Sarah BLACK

Rivers in Australia. Tens of millions of theworld’s poor in places like the MekongRiver basin rely on freshwater fish forprotein and calcium.

8 9‘Thirsty’ crops inriver basins
It takes a lot of water to grow crops andraise livestock. See table A.
A recent study completed for WWF sought
to determine the threat posed by irrigatedfarming to the environment in selected river
basins of high importance for biodiversity.
agricultural products as the ‘thirstiest’ water

Table A. Water-intensive crops.

users in these basins as in Table B.

Crop

Typical water

Overall four of these commodities stand out

requirement (in litres)

as being the ‘thirstiest’ i.e. the largest total

per kilogram of cropwater users in these river basins: rice, sugar,

Cotton7,000 - 29,000

cotton and wheat, with vegetables being

Rice

3,000 - 5,000

locally important in many cases. In the Indus

Sugar Cane

1,500 - 3,000

Basin, rice is the thirstiest crop using about

Soya

2,000

Wheat

900

Potatoes500

70 million cubic metres of water annually,
with cotton, wheat and sugar all using about
50 million each. This is despite the fact thatChildren washing in sugar canedrainage channel, Zambia

there are more hectares of wheat grownthan the other three crops put together.

Pasture for livestock probably represents
a special case in that not only are pastures
feedstuff for cattle are often in themselves
irrigated crops e.g. maize, wheat, alfalfa(lucerne) and soy. Adding this up, raising
livestock for dairy or beef is almost certainly
the biggest water user in parts of USA
and Australia.

©WWF-Canon/Sarah BLACK

and hay irrigated in some cases, but theTable B. ‘Thirstiest’ crops in major world rivers
RegionRiver Basin

Thirstiest crops

AfricaNiger River & Lake Chadrice, vegetables, sugar, wheat

Zambezi Riversugar, wheat, rice, vegetables

Indus River

rice, cotton, wheat, sugar

Yangtze River

rice, wheat, maize, soy

Mekong River

rice, sugar, vegetables

Europe andMiddle East

Konya Closed Basin (Turkey)

wheat, sugar, grapes, alfalfa

Australia

Murray-Darling Riverpasture, cotton, rice, cereals

North America

Rio Grande River

alfalfa, maize, cotton, wheat

Asia

LivingWatersConserving the source of life

©WWF-Canon/Paul FORSTERThe study identified a range of well-known

thirsty

Sugar cane plantation,
Sao Paulo State, Brazil

Sugar, water and ecosystems
Sugar cane is a deep-rooted crop grown in warm

Ecosystems impacted by reduced water

countries which, unlike most seasonal crops,

flow caused by sugarcane include theremains in the soil all year round and as a result

St Lucia World Heritage Site in South

uses a lot of water. Even in areas where sugar

Africa, the Indus Delta in Pakistan,cane is not irrigated, the crop can have a great

and the Godavari River Basin in India.

impact on river flow as it reduces run-off from

The impacts of water quantity on

the catchment into rivers and draws heavily on

ecosystems are generally coupled withground water resources. Sugar is also produced

water quality and effluent run-off problems.

from sugar beet, especially in Europe, andThese issues are particularly prominent in thealternative sweeteners are also made from other

Everglades in the USA and the Great Barrier

crops such as maize.

Reef in Australia.

Water withdrawal by these crops is only

one of their impacts on nature and people.
Several of these crops, notably rice andcotton, are associated with the use of large

amounts of hazardous chemicals (pesticides

and herbicides), and almost all use synthetic
fertilizers of some kind. The incessant

expansion of farming onto natural areas,

especially forests, may be the biggest impact
for other major crops such as palm oil orsoy bean.

10 11

Cotton flower (Gossypium sp.) on aplantation Faisalabad, Pakistan

Solutions to quench
agriculture’s ‘thirst’
Crop

Selected water saving practices

Rice

Shorter land preparation period

Sugar

Overall only some 20-50 percent of water
withdrawn actually reaches the crop, andlosses occur before it gets to farms and in

Laser levellingthe farm application itself. This means there

Switch to aerobic rice varieties

are many opportunities for improved water

Drip, sprinkler and alternate furrow irrigation

management at various levels. Taking these

Replanting crop die-off each year

opportunities is a shared responsibility.

Water-savings on farms

Knowledge about cotton growth models
Water deficit during early crop development and before harvest
Shallow soil cultivation
Drip, sprinkler and alternate furrow irrigation

Wheat

water, action is required at several levels.

Direct or dry seeding

Water deficit during crop elongation

CottonTo start improving the way farming uses

On a farm, there are both general andcrop-specific practices that can increasewater use efficiency in irrigated and rainfed
farming. These involve reducing losses in

Broad bed cultivation

storage and conveyance, evaporation from

Drip, sprinkler and alternate furrow methods

the soil or water surface, and from runoff

Zero tillage and laser levellingand drainage. Measures can also be taken

Water deficit in non-critical growth periods

to improve the farm’s ‘micro-climate’, for

Crop varieties that grow under sub-optimal water availability

example, by planting trees for shade orwindbreaks, or adding plant wastes toincrease the organic content of soil, toincrease water retention and reduce overall
use. Such measures have wider farm
productivity and biodiversity benefits.
It is also important to grow the crops suited
to the location and season to get maximum
benefit of available water. In the Niger Riverbasin for example, rice is grown in the dry
season and is vulnerable given its high water
demand. Switching to growing wheat would
enable 20-40 percent less water to be used,while still producing a crop of commercial
and food value. Farmers, in rich or poor
countries, may not have easy access to

LivingWatersConserving the source of life

information needed to make such choices
about water-saving practices, shown intable C.

©WWF-Canon/Michel GUNTHER

Table C. Water-saving practices

©WWF-Canon/Michel GUNTHER©WWF-Canon/Mauri RAUKARI

Irrigation Systems andriver basins
To avert wider water shortages, and toconserve nature, there is more required thansimply producing more crops with less wateron each farm. In many countries individual
farmers are dependent for their water supply
on whoever controls large-scale irrigationquenchsystems. Much can be done to improve
efficiency through better system design,
regular maintenance and effective drainage,and equitable procedures for allocating wateramong farmers when there are shortages.
There is also a need to consider the whole

Field projects carried out in the Maikaal
project area in India indicate that cotton
can be produced with significantly less

Top right:
Women planting rice on the outskirtsof Royal Chitwan National Park,
Nepal

water. Compared to conventional flood
irrigation systems, low-cost drip irrigation
systems can save up to 80 percent of water.
Field studies in Pakistan revealed watersavings of close to 50 percent by various
furrow irrigation methods compared toflood irrigation.
Additionally, there is considerable scope to
improve drainage of excess irrigation waterfrom fields. A lack of attention to drainage
puts large areas out of production each year
as salt levels rise in soils.

river within which the cumulative impactsof water use, chemicals and land use arefelt by people and nature. Without basin
agreements on returning water saved
to nature to maintain ‘ecological’ flows,

Above:
Picking strawberries near Coto
Doñana National Park, Spainthe result will be more intensive farming,a downward cycle of land and water
degradation, ecosystem decline and theneed to expand into new areas. Ignoring
the river basin perspective jeopardises thelong-term goal of sustainability for farming.
Breaking this cycle will not be easy, andrequires new forms of engagement among
farmers, governments, environmentalorganizations, and the food companies whotransform the raw materials into products
we recognize on our supermarket shelves.
There are encouraging approaches emerging
in Australia’s Murray-Darling River Basin, forexample, where WWF has played a role inrecent years.

12 13

A Basin approach for the Murray-Darling River

The role of trade, markets andconsumers

The Murray-Darling river basin which covers more than 1 million square kilometres –Crops harvested in one place often reach adouble the size of France – contains the majority of irrigated agriculture in Australia.

destination halfway around the globe. From

It suffers from drought and increasing levels of salt in soils and water. To address thegrower to consumer, there are opportunities

challenges faced, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission has implemented a comprehensive

to contribute to more sustainable agriculturalplanning framework for the river basin and its natural resources. As part of its approach,production. There are examples emerging

the Commission placed a cap on total water withdrawals at the river basin level andof multinational food companies that are

set-up a process to negotiate environmental flows for each tributary and the main river.

progressively raising the standards by which

In many parts of the Basin, water-trading systems are in place enabling farmers to buy
and sell their water allocations, enabling producers of low value crops or on ‘leaky land’
to sell their water to producers of higher value crops or who are located on better soil
types. Further, government charges for water are being increased towards the real costof supply, removing a perverse subsidy and providing an incentive for more efficient use.
While there is significant room for improving the emerging systems, the net result is thatwater is increasingly used for high-value purposes, and minimum water levels areguaranteed in the river to support other functions, including nature that supports agriculturein the first place

farm produce that they buy has to be grown.
To date these initiatives have not yet
addressed water issues fully, nor thewider river basin perspective, but a modelof more sustainable operation seems to be
developing that is starting to reflect the real
price of food. The organic food industry is
also starting to engage in standards
development for water sustainability.
There are also opportunities throughinternational trade to encourage better©WWF-Canon/NEYRET & BENASTAR

Left:
Rice terraces viewed from above
Eastern Sikkim, India
Opposite:
Terraced rice fields on the way from
Ambalavao Andringitra Nature
Reserve, Madagascar

farming practices, for example by importing
countries giving improved market accessand subsidies for commodities produced
in more nature-friendly ways. At the very
least, governments and trading blocks needto remove constraints to adopting moresustainable production methods from global,
regional or bilateral trade agreements.
Within the European Union (EU), reformof the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)
is needed so that it no longer promotes
short-term production gains over long-termsustainability. In the Mediterranean region
the CAP, and other EU funding programmes,
is promoting agricultural practices especiallyfor water use that are unsuitable underprevailing natural conditions. A substantial
is badly maintained, coupled with inefficientirrigation methods, resulting in high losses
of water.

LivingWatersConserving the source of life

©WWF-Canon/Luc DESLARZES

proportion of the irrigation infrastructure14 15

Cotton market Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Reforming theEU’s Common
Agriculture Policy
WWF is calling for a substantial
reform of the European Union’s
Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)in order to reduce its impact on land,
water and coastal resources and toprovide incentives for sustainable
rural development.
This can be achieved by redirecting
the CAP budget away fromWWF in Action
Sustainable agriculture is a challenging part of WWF’s mission toconserve nature. WWF is taking action on thirsty crops through a
combination of approaches:• Farm level: Working with farmers to• Industry engagement: Developing anddemonstrate that improved farm water

testing Better Management Practices

management can deliver benefits for(BMPs) for water and other environmental

productivity and reduce stress locallyissues in collaboration with the food andon water resources.

fibre industries.

• Integrated River Basin Management:• Advocating change: Lobbying for

production-related subsidies towards

Considering the impact of thirsty crops

reform of policies and subsidy regimesa policy that promotes sustainable

at the river basin level and developingthat encourage unsustainable croprural development and which

methodologies to improve planning

production, and communicating to key

encourages sound management

decisions, and devise mitigation

audiences the real cost of thirsty crops,of the countryside, nature

measures, to maintain or improve

as well as examples of crops produced

conservation and the generationwater availability.

by more sustainable methods.

of new economic opportunities.

LivingWatersConserving the source of lifeactionGrowing better cotton in Pakistan

In Pakistan, WWF is working on small-scale field projects to conserve irrigation waterin cotton by promoting the ‘bed and furrow’ irrigation method. This is being done ina holistic manner in combination with Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to reduce
the use of toxic pesticides. In the first phase, four Farmer Field Schools have been
established in South Punjab to undertake these activities in collaboration with the

Punjab Agriculture Department and international partners such as CABI Bioscience.
WWF recognizes the need to join
forces with partners with whom we canwork together to encourage sustainable

In its international Cotton Initiative,
WWF is working with farmers, governments
and investors at various stages of theThree-quarters of the cotton we use everyday is grown under irrigation in dry, warm
(semi-arid) countries. Cotton growing is directly implicated in the degradation oflarge-scale ecosystems including the Indus River Delta in Pakistan, the Yangtze and Yellow
Rivers in China, the Aral Sea in central Asia and the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia.

market chain in a joint endeavour toWWF’s Cotton initiative aims to reduce the amount of water used to irrigate cotton

promote cotton that uses less water

so that ecosystem health is sustained by ecological flows, as an important step towards

and hazardous chemicals.

sustainable cotton production.

In the Kafue flats in Zambia, WWF is starting
to work with sugar plantation owners to

reduce runoff and pollution that causes theriver to become choked with hyacinths andreduces the river’s capacity to perform otherservices. This is linked to a wider programmeof work that WWF is establishing to promotesustainable sugar production especially inwater scarce regions.

WWF is working with multinational foodcompanies and with the organic food sector
regarding criteria for sustainable water usethat can be incorporated successfully intheir respective production standards andpurchasing decisions.

Broken pumping station for irrigation.
Danube River Basin, Ukraine©WWF-Canon/Anton VORAUER©WWF-Canon/Mauri RAUTKARI

agriculture.

WWF’s Cotton Initiative:

16 17

Our work in the Global Dialogue on Water,
Food and Environment, addressing how tomeet current and future food needs without
further environmental destruction, is anotherexample of parties traditionally at odds witheach other who are now working together.

The Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment
Ten of the primary international actors in the fields of water resources management,
research, environmental conservation and health have established the Dialogue to address
the balance between future water needs for nature and food production. It aims to produce
tangible solutions for the seemingly conflicting interests of water for food and environment,
primarily at the national and local levels by 2006.
The organisations involved are the: UN Food and Agriculture Organisation,
the Global Water Partnership, the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage,
the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, the International Water Management

By valuing theecosystems andwater on which
we all depend,
a new balancecan be found toallocate water
equitably tomeet the needsof people,
agriculture andthe environment.

Institute, the World Conservation Union, the UN Environment Programme, the World
Health Organisation, the World Water Council and WWF.

in India, Zambia, Kenya, Far East Russia and the Mekong Basin.

Opposite:
Rice paddy fields with baobab trees
Morondava, Madagascar

LivingWatersConserving the source of life

‘For agriculture to become truly
sustainable and able to feed
fast growing populations,matters such as soil fertility,
biodiversity, water resources
and the quality of rural life must
be addressed. Unilever isdeveloping together with manydifferent stakeholders
agricultural best practiceguidelines for its key crops
addressing these issues.’
Jeroen Bordewijk, Senior Vice
President Supply Chain Excellence
Programme, Unilever, one of theworld's largest food manufacturers©WWF-Canon/Martin HARVEY

WWF is setting up river basin dialogues to consider the future options for food and waterCover image: Intensive use of scarce groundwater resources to irrigate sugar cane Eastern Transvaal
Republic Of South Africa 10.1994 ©WWF-Canon / John E. NEWBY

Conserving the source of life
Contacts:
c/o P.O. Box 7
3700AA Zeist
Netherlands
Tel: +31 30 693 7803
Fax: +31 30 691 2064
livingwaters@wwf.nl
www.panda.org/livingwaters
WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s naturalenvironment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony
with nature, by:– conserving the world’s biological diversity– ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable– promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
Conserving the source of life

Avenue du Mont Blanc 271196 Gland
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 364 9027
Fax: +41 22 364 0526
livingwaters@wwf.nl
www.panda.org/livingwaters©1986, WWF – World Wide Fund For Nature (Formerly World Wildlife Fund) ® WWF – World Wide Fund For Nature (Formerly World Wildlife Fund) Registered Trademark

LivingWaters